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Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia around 1800. From 1833 to 1843, he resided in Illinois (a free state) and in an area of the Louisiana Territory, where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. After moving to Missouri, Scott unsuccessfully sued the Missouri courts for his freedom, claiming that his residence in free territory made him a free man. Scott then brought a new suit in federal court. Scott's master maintained that no pure-blooded Negro of African descent and the descendant of slaves could be a citizen in the sense of Article III of the Constitution.
Was Dred Scott free or was he a slave?




The Judge

US Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney

Chief Justice Taney ruled that Dred Scott was a slave and that blacks, whether slaves or free, had never been U.S. citizens. The Court then held the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, hoping to end the slavery question once and for all.

The Dred Scott ruling encouraged pro-slavery groups to make even bolder demands, but it also strengthened the opposition to slavery in the North, divided the Democratic Party on sectional lines, and strengthened the Republican Party.

For a full summary of this case, go to:
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1851-1900/1856/1856_0/

© The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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